Concerns over Timing of FEMA’s CAP System Remain
Broadcasters and state and local emergency management officials are wary of putting too much money into new emergency alert system equipment before the federal government finalizes plans for a new system that won’t soon be obsolete. Their comments at the National EAS Summit Monday echoed concerns raised a year ago (CD May 20 p1). At issue is how quickly broadcasters will have to install new equipment after FEMA adopts a new common alerting protocol. An FCC rule says EAS broadcasters have to be able to receive the new signals within six months of FEMA’s adoption of CAP.
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That could be too soon if state and federal agencies aren’t able to send CAP-enabled alerts by then, broadcasters at the summit said. “Why can’t we roll this out as a system?” said Clay Frienwald of the Society of Broadcast Engineers. Comments on FEMA’s CAP plans are due the first week in May.
If timing is a concern, broadcasters should raise the issue with the FCC, said Ken Moran, senior deputy chief of the Homeland Security Bureau. “If it appears that it is not practical to go forward with a 180-day implementation, you need to come to us with as much detail as you can” explaining why a different time frame would work better, Moran said. “I don’t think the FCC envisions having rules that require you all to waste money,” he said, prompting groans from the audience.
Working on EAS with FEMA and its parent agency the Department of Homeland Security has gotten easier, and there have been encouraging signs from the federal government recently, said Tom Simon, Hawaii State Civil Defense systems engineer. “But because we have our own CAP program, I still have concerns that we could get pretty far down the road and when FEMA comes out with what they're planning, we could have scrap a lot of what we've done … and have to partially start over,” Simons said.
A system for authenticating CAP alerts needs to be part of FEMA’s initial CAP plans, said Gary Timm, chair of the Wisconsin EAS Committee. The federal government can’t require stations to install equipment that can take over their programming signal but can be hacked by a “14-year- old,” Timm said. “That’s not acceptable.”